Hyde’s Beat

TRACK #398:

Hyde’s Beat by Mr. Hyde

Despite enjoying a fair amount of success, by 1987 our dynamic and heinous duo of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde had called it quits.

It was at this point that Andre Harrell went out and formed Uptown Records. Mr. Hyde, known to the government as Alonzo Brown, ultimately went on to become a screenwriter and an Emmy winning producer of The Judge Mathis show.

Before he did that however, Mr. Hyde drop one final single for Profile Records called The Witch.

Now that song has been in and out of the bullpen over the years, because it’s a bop and it’s called The Witch. Problem is, it’s not really about a witch, it’s just about a girl that kinda pissed Mr. Hyde off, which is a bummer, cause it really is a cool song.

In fairness though, most songs about witches are just men complaining about some woman that spurned them or made them feel uncomfortable by being assertive or weird. This trend gets pretty annoying when you’re just looking for spooky songs for your Halloween playlist and you keep getting served up scorned men warning you about the last female they encountered. Men, please stop this. Resist the temptation. It’s cliched and tired to use a witch metaphor in your song about a woman that wasn’t interested in you. Stop sullying up cool evil witches with all your insecure sexism.

But all of that’s not really a problem, because I’m an idiot. See, the B side of The Witch is a song called Hyde’s Beat. Now, if I wasn’t an idiot, I’d have just listened to that B side straight away instead of just assuming that it was the instrumental to The Witch. If Alonzo Brown went by any other name, I may not have jumped to such a quick conclusion, but again, I just assumed it was the dub version, cause I’m an idiot.

Once I finally listened to it, and realized this Mr. Hyde was the Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, everything feel into place. Because Hyde’s Beat appears to be the spiritual successor (if not just the direct sequel) to Transformation. It picks up immediately after “Mr. Hyde” has killed “Dr. Jekyll,” and we find Hyde in a state of disarray – confused and scared at the prospect of the dead man on the floor, a dead man he’ll surely be blamed for killing.

Toward the end of the Robert Louis Stevenson’s original story, Jekyll begins involuntarily transforming into Hyde, such that he needs the serum to turn back into Jekyll rather than the other way around. Eventually, he runs out serum though and is doomed to transform completely into Hyde once and for all and remain that way forever.

Once that happens, Edward Hyde makes the decision to take his own life. He drink some poison Jekyll has laying around the lab, effectively kill the both of them and thus ending the story.

In our song however, we have Hyde “killing” Dr. Jekyll and completely coming apart at the seams as result. Because we’re people that know Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, we can only assume that this murder is purely metaphoric and represents the point at which Hyde can no longer turn back into Jekyll, right? Yeah, I think we can. Rather than take his own life though, Mr. Hyde just jumps out of a window and into a limo with Igor, as any one of us might do in the same situation.

Naturally, all the cops in the city are now looking for him, cause he just killed Dr. Jekyll, and since Dr. Jekyll is a totally separate person, there’s definitely a body on the ground indicting murder and thus leading to an investigation where law enforcement might be looking for Jekyll curios and off-putting friend, Mr. Hyde, right? Yeah, I think that’s safe to assume.

So, Igor does what a buddy might do, and he brings Hyde to a bar so he can lay low for a while. Unfortunately, everyone at the bar freaks out when they see Hyde and high-tails it outta there. But then, all of sudden its morning and Hyde is waking up next to a woman like he’s Jekyll again but has been dickin’ down all night like Mr. Hyde. Only he’s still Mr. Hyde, and she’s not really feeling that, so he jumps out of another window cause why not. Doors are for pussy. Get with it.

Then basically he just becomes homeless, wandering the city streets alone and shunned, proclaiming to whomever will listen that he didn’t kill Dr. Jekyll, which shouldn’t be a problem, because there’s no body, and everyone’s just like “Hey, where did Dr. Jekyll go,” right? I mean, if they’ve even noticed. Jekyll hasn’t even been dead a whole day yet, is anyone really looking suspecting foul play yet? Is this all just some delusion Hyde is spiraling into as he’s lays dying from the poison he drank in the lab? Is this thing coming at it all from an angle I hadn’t consider yet? Who knows.

Eventually though, Hyde comes to the realization that Jekyll being dead is actually kind of liberating and hopefully our humble narrator finally finds some peace. I sure hope so. He seems pretty distressed through most of this song. Or maybe his cries of “I’m free!” are his last words as he chokes on his own breath, dying on the floor of the laboratory. Who knows?

So yeah, it kinda deviates from the story a little, but there are references to Billy Dee Williams and Thriller and even Rodney Dangerfield, so that kinda re-centers things a bit back toward the original text.

So here’s Mr. Hyde, on his own at last, living his best life and rockin’ a beat that is truly his own.

Transformation

TRACK #397:

Transformation by Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde

So, The Phantom of the Opera, The 3-D Invisibles, what else can we toss on the “you’ve been doing this for how long and you still haven’t talked about” pile?

Well, how bout Jekyll and Hyde? There’s a classic gothic horror staple that hasn’t gotten but maybe a passing mention here in the most fleeting of monster party verses. And even that I’m not 100% on.

So, let’s put a little mustard on it then, shall we? Instead of adding just any old song about Jekyll and Hyde, how about one from a pair of dudes that actually named themselves Jeckyll and Hyde, spelling notwithstanding.

The 80’s electo rap duo Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde have been on the Shindig’s radar for some time now. How could they not be? They’re an electro rap duo called Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. They’ve had a few songs in the bullpen for a while at this point. They’ve been waiting patiently.

They’ve also been pretty influential. In addition to being the first guys to sample the ridiculously sampled Genius of Love by Tom Tom Club, Dr. Jeckyll is actually Andre Harrell, the founder of Uptown Records. How’s that for crazy?

I love that monsters songs always seem to hiding in the closets of some of the movers and shakers in music. Call them novelties. Call them silly and unserious. Call them completely inconsequential in the grand breadth of musical history, because maybe they are. But you can not say that The Shindig does not boast among it’s ranks some of the most influential, popular and talented musicians, performers and producers the business had to offer, even if the songs represented here are not the pinnacle of those same artists careers.

But I digress.

Despite dropping their first single in 1980 (and then later a weird doo-wop style throwback mashup called Jeckyll and Hyde Dance that wasn’t terribly referential) it took 6 years for these guys to release a song about the men who gave them their names. But when they did, man did they unleash a doozy.

And that doozy was 1986’s Transformation, one hell of Golden Age Monster Rap that indulges in the clever gimmick of having each rapper assume their respective namesakes in alternating verses. Perhaps that’s the obvious choice, but a wise one never the less, and one that pays off for this fun modernization of the Jekyll and Hyde story, or at least the generally held notion of the Jekyll and Hyde story, anyway. Cause Jekyll and Hyde is kind of a…strange case…of apparent misunderstanding.

First and foremost, let’s look at the concrete stuff. The 1866 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson is a mystery that doesn’t so much focus on Jekyll had Hyde directly, as the story is mostly told through other characters reacting to the various actions of Jekyll and Hyde. Additionally, the reader is never really privy to Hyde’s actions directly. In the end, it is revealed that Dr. Jekyll was in fact Mr. Hyde the whole time and it is played as a surprise ending.

Now, that’s kind of a boring prospect for a moving picture though, I reckon, so Hollywood Hollywooded it up by focusing directly on the two titular characters, in particular Edward Hyde and the visualization of their transformation. Which is an interesting distinction. Most every adaptation plays with the idea the Dr. Jekyll is consumed by Mr. Hyde and then, like a werewolf almost, awakens the next day without any memory of what Hyde has done. The implication that Hyde is someone different and is no longer Dr. Jekyll. But this isn’t really what happens in the story, not expressly.

Dr. Jekyll does indeed transform into Mr. Hyde, but not in this somewhat metaphoric sense. Edward Hyde isn’t a separate person with conflicting goals and desires. Edward Hyde is Henry Jekyll. The Doctor does transform into Hyde, yes, but in the most literal sense, like Henry is wearing a Hyde costume. The serum changes Jekyll’s appearance, and that change (much like the Invisible Man) allows him walk unrecognized in the night, free to act upon his otherwise repressed desires, whatever they may be. Jekyll and Hyde isn’t a tale of a man with split personality disorder, it’s the tale a doctor inventing a physical mask as cover for his hedonistic desires.

Which brings us to another curious point about this story and its adaptations. Since we never really get to see Hyde doing what Hyde be doing, the reader is left to the second hand descriptions of his activies by Jekyll; activities that Jekyll is even reluctant to fully reveal on his deathbed, so there’s that. You’re a murder man, what else could you still be trying to…hyde? And why?

As such, many have taken to a queer reading of the story, with Hyde being an expression of Jekyll’s repressed Victorian homosexuality. To wit, there is practically no women in the story, it’s all a bunch of interpersonal relationships between these dudes. Homosexuality had been broadly criminalized in London the year before the story was released, and apparently Hyde Park was a a popular destination for homosexual rendezvous. Some of Stevenson’s close friends, including a former Reverend (curiously named Walter Jekyll,) were homosexuals themselves. One such friend wrote to Robert after reading the story, expressing his opinion that when viewed allegorically, (to borrow a modern phrase) it hit different.

There is this funny SNL skit with Bill Hader that (whether intentional or not) is in ways perhaps a more accurate adaptation on both accounts. Not only is Jekyll openly admitting to having sex with men after he takes the “serum,” but that he, despite claiming he doesn’t remember what is happening as Hyde…clearly remembers what is happening as Hyde. Indeed it is the reason he “invents” the “serum” to begin with – to provide cover for these acts to his wife and colleagues, as he can offload those desires directly onto “Hyde.”

Was this a widely held opinion of the story in the day? Was old time Hollywood aware of such an interpretation? Is that why Hyde was initially (and henceforth) always seen cavorting with female prostitutes, despite the fact that Mr. Hyde neither encounters, nor murders any prostitutes in Stevenson’s original story. Was it an attempt to redirect the story and reassert the character as unflinchingly heterosexual, lest anyone gets any untoward ideas? Who knows?

But where am I now? I was talking about this song, and now I’ve wandered dangerously far off course from this highly detailed account of a Dr. Jekyll just wanting to wear Timberland boots and embrace Hyde’s primal heterosexual trysts.

Let’s get back to this song that doesn’t concern itself with how Hyde should be interpreted, and certainly doesn’t have any patience for a queer reading of the text.

Here’s the duo themselves, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde singing about their very specific predicament in the 80’s Monster Rap epic Transformation.

Let me show you this freaky side!

The Wolfman

TRACK #396:

The Wolfman by The Chaz Jackson Band featuring Rudy Gleason

There’s not much I can really say about Charles “Chaz” Jackson. There’s even less I can say about Rudy Gleason, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Sometimes that’s just the way of it.

Chaz’s discogs profile talks about him being in love with a trumpet and buying a guitar at 18 while stationed in Japan with the Army. Doesn’t mention him playing those instruments, mind you, just that he loved one and bought the other. Alright then.

It goes on to talk about all the different musicians he went to see. It’s like a paragraph of different famous musicians. Not musicians he performed with, but rather acts he just saw perform. Ok, I guess.

It’s a strange little blurb that speaks not to his talents or achievements, but to encounters and influences. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, to see Chaz only has 2 singles and about 5 songs to his credit.

Now, credited alongside Chaz’s band on each release is Rudy Gleason. So is Rudy the guy singing? If so, why isn’t he just covered under the umbrella of the “band” like the other players here? Is it because Rudy had a prolific career of his own and The Chaz Jackson Band was just a side project for him? Well, not that I can tell, as these tracks (and all of them, it appears) seem to be the only official music Rudy Gleason ever had to his name. So that’s a little strange.

But despite this curious write up and the limited output, every one of these tunes is kinda slappy , including tonight inclusion, The Wolfman.

Thing about this song is, well 2 things really. One of them is that it was a little long and repetitive, so I kinda trimmed it down a smidge. I know, a little sacrilege, a little presumptuous, a little shitty, but hey, I took the liberty all the same, justified or not. Call it a Shindig Special Cut.

But really the thing about it is, despite being called The Wolfman, it kinda gives off more of a Red Riding Hood vibe really, no doubt aided by this guy (Rudy or otherwise) literally saying “The Big Bad Wolf is gonna get you.” So, I dunno. Should I not have included it? It’s called The Wolfman. They’re certainly saying “The Wolfman” but really nothing about this songs feels Wolfman-like at all.

I kinda like it though despite. At least, when it’s not pushing 6 minutes, which this song definitely doesn’t need to be pushing. It has a decidedly 80’s dance floor jam quality, which I appreciate. If I didn’t know any better and you tried telling me this fucker was on the Teen Wolf soundtrack (as it should have been) I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. And hey, at the end of the day this is supposed to be a party playlist, and sometimes a little jiggle juice is just what the doctor ordered.

So, let’s inch a little closer to 400 with our next Monstrous inclusion, however unmonstrous it may actually be, with The Wolfman from The Chaz Jackson Band Featuring Rudy Gleason.

Spooky Shindig Post Script. SSPS? Yeah, I guess.

Tonight is a Full Moon! The Harvest Moon – and a Supermoon – to be precise. That’s a little weird. And while I’d love to say I orchestrated such a thing consciously, I did not purposefully place The Wolfman song on the Full Moon. That happened purely by coincidence.

Happy Halloween indeed!

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (3-D Invisibles)

TRACK #395:

The Creature from the Black Lagoon by The 3-D Invisibles

Speaking of things the Shindig has inexplicably avoided for 13 years, let’s talk about The 3-D Invisibles. Because it’s crazy to me that we haven’t talked about The 3-D Invisibles this far into this whole Halloween-Monster-Movie-Music-Whatever-The-Hell-Is-Goin-On-Around-Here Playlist thing.

Being a huge surf music goon from an early age, The 3-D Invisibles are a band that’s been on the edges of my radar forever, appearing on numerous surf and rockabilly compilations since the mid 80’s. Back before Spotify existed, Napster didn’t exist either and I certainly didn’t exist near a record store better than a Sam Goody, (Newbury Comics notwithstanding. They probably might have actually carried them, to be honest) so the chances of me having access to a band like The 3-D Invisibles was a pretty unlikely.

Now, that certainly doesn’t account for the nearly 12 year span from 2000 to 2012 before I created this website (where I had increased access to such music) or the 13 years since (where I had absolutely unprecedented access) where they have gone completely unheralded. But, like I said, existing on the edges. I wasn’t really thinking about them. If I was, it wasn’t for long and if I was hearing them, I certainly doesn’t appear as though i was absorbing them properly.

And that’s a shame. These guys could easily have been Shindig All-Stars by now, and probably should be. But all recalculations start somewhere, and for The 3-D Invisibles, and garage punk outfit from Michigan that’s been pealin’ off monster rock from over 40 years, that starts with Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Cause you can’t do a Classic Monster block without good ole Gill-Man, I don’t care how under represented he might be. And make no mistake, of the Big 5, poor Gil is woefully under represented. I think this is like the 3rd track we have that’s exclusively about him, and that’s not for a lack of searching either.

So, let’s finally welcome The 3-D Invisibles aboard and chalk up another one for ole Fishman, Lord knows he could use all the help he can get.

Also, if you are an Invisibles fan, I’m aware this song was released on the 1993 Split LP B-Movie Brain from Neurotic Bop Records, I decided to go with the Love of Mars/Monster Island single just cause it’s got a stereoscopic anaglyph of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and says it says The 3-D Invisibles. C’mon, how could I not?

The Phantom of the Opera

TRACK #394:

Phantom of the Opera by Long Tall Ernie and The Shakers

In an effort to flesh out our Classic Monster Block, we’re gonna lean on our old friends Long Tall Ernie and The Shakers.

These guys should probably already be Shindig All-Stars by now, as their 1979 album Meet the Monsters plays like ready-made, 8 track Shindig Mini-playlist. However, this is only the second time we’re pulling from that album. And the last time we did? 2019! That’s 5 seasons ago! That’s enough time for us to have added most of this album.

But who knows, maybe one day Long Tall Ernie’ll suit up with the All-Star Team, lord knows he could.

For today, we’re just gonna let them fill the Phantom of the Opera sized hole, not just in this block, but in this entire playlist. evidently. Seriously, is this really the first legit song we’re getting about the Phantom of the Opera? In 13 years? That can’t be true. Hold on.

Ok, yep. It’s true, I guess.

You get Title Track goofballs Phantom of the Mall and Phantom of the Ritz showing up in 2022 and that’s about it. You could argue Phantom of the Paradise made an appearance back in 2017, but I still don’t think that qualifies as a legit Phantom of the Opera tune.

Man, that’s crazy. The Phantom of the Opera is a a huge iconic character to have just roundly ignored like that. I mean, you have Lon Chaney, not even Jr. mind you, but Big Daddy Chain, pulling out all the stops to create one of Hollywood’s original movie-magic monster transformations. And the whole thing it’s about music! How have I seriously hit on this subject ‘til 2025? I guess there’s just not that many songs about the Phnatom? I dunno if that’s true. I’m sure it’s not. I just don’t think I was looking, for whatever reason. But hey, what are ya gonna do? We’re here now, ain’t we?

If you’re a real big Phantom fan that’s been patiently waiting for this blog to finally drop a Phantom of the Opera mini-playlist, I don’t know what to tell you. You never spoke up, I’ll say that much. I’ve yet to get one complaint about the lack of representation for Erik, The Phantom of the Opera, on this playlsit.

But, if that was you, quietly suffering like I’m not a DM shimmy slide away, tonight is your night. So let’s let Ernie and his Shakers introduce us all to…The Phantom of the Opera!

Dracula (The Zane Brothers)

TRACK #393:

Dracula by The Zane Brothers

For every Shindig All-Star with multiple songs on the playlist, or even huge stars with one-off additions like Michael Jackson or Chuck Berry,
there’s probably 10 tracks from guys that never cut another record in their entire careers. Hell, some of them never even released another song.

The Zane Brothers, whomever they may be, are just such fellas.

Now, thank the maker though, because with their one musical life they choose to make a song about Dracula. It’s quite probably the very reason they only got to shoot one shot, but it’s definitely what I’m looking for, and (by extension) what you’re looking for, as a person reading these words.

It’s a humdinger of Drac Track too, one that ought to get your feet moving. At least if you’re already in a dance-friendly environment that is, like maybe a Halloween party, expecting to hear dance worthy songs about Dracula. If you’re just driving in your ‘83 Ford Fiesta on your way to a double shift at the diner, perhaps a song about Dracula just gets shut the fuck off, who knows?

Me? I’m keepin it on, rolling down the window and leaning on the volume knob just pumped that any station is broadcasting a song about Dracula through actual radio waves. And that’s not simply because I’m the kinda guy who would compile songs like that onto an unnecessarily and obnoxiously long Halloween playlist for the past 13 years. I mean, that certainly doesn’t hurt, but it’s not the only reason.

Naw, it’s cause this song is cool. Trust me! I’ve waded through a several pints of Dracula songs that aren’t even worth mentioning, much less listening to, and this is definitely not one of them. Not at all. This one grooves and it’s even, dare I say, kinda funny.

And I still have a capes worth of Dracula songs sitting in the bullpen, but I’ll leave it at just the one this year. Maybe next year I’ll drop another full on Dracula block, cause man, they are seriously piling up.

For now, let’s let The Zane Brothers spin their unique yarn about that age old Halloween song staple, Dracula.

Frankenstein (Bart Lewis)

TRACK #392:

Frankenstein by Bart Lewis

When my 4 year old daughter first heard this song while driving around in my car this summer – which opens as it does with background singers proclaiming “Frankenstein is a great big friend of Dracula” – she very innocently asked me “Is that true, Daddy?”

So obviously I told her, “Of course they are! They hang out all the time.”

She accepted that answer, but I quickly realized that wasn’t gonna be quite enough for the internal nerd that was now silently screaming inside my head “Oh yeah, smart ass? Are they? Are they fuckin’ boys?”

So now, of course, I had to investigate.

So, Dracula and Frankenstein, the novels at any rate, both received the silent film treatment as far back as 1910 for Frankenstein (by Thomas Edison, no less) and 1922 for Drac, though German and totally unauthorized, as Nosferatu. They remained separate entities (as well they should have, they are completely unrelated characters) for the next 20 years of so.

The first time I think they even exist in each other’s realities is in Universal’s first full monster rally attempt in 1944, House of Frankenstein. But that movie sucks and they don’t actually share the screen together.

The following year, Universal tried again (and fucked up again) with House of Dracula, which also kinda sucks and again features no real interaction by these two characters, friendly or otherwise.

Now in 1948, Universal finally got the Monster Rally formula right with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This entry, in addition to finally being good, also featured actual Bela Lugosi Dracula reviving an actual Frankenstein’s monster in the form of Glenn Strange. Now those particulars are somewhat beside the point, but it is cooler than if it wasn’t them. Also, it establishes a long standing tradition of Dracula endeavoring to control Frankenstein as a means to his own ends, much like in Monster Squad or Van Helsing – two other instances where they’re together but I wouldn’t really consider the relationship friendly.

Things got pretty quiet for the dynamic duo through the 50’s and 60’s though, what with Hammer taking up the monster mantle but producing no crossover rally efforts of their own.

Then however, the early 70’s offered up 3 distinct versions of the two, but decidedly at odds with each other. At least, conceptually anyway.

First up, from 1979, was Germany’s Assignment Terror, where aliens hatch a Plan 9–esque scheme to take over the world using monsters. It’s not really Dracula and it’s not really Frankenstein, but it doesn’t really matter cause they’re not really friends. They’re just kinda there. This one got retitled Dracula Versus Frankenstein for US distribution, but they don’t really fight either, so, while it’s cool and totally worth watching, it’s kind of a bust for our purposes.

The following year, trash auteur Al Adamson unleashed his own Dracula vs Frankenstein on the world and everybody rejoiced.

Well, not really, but maybe they should have cause that shit is wild and absolutely worth watching. What’s more, Dracula finally squares off against Frankenstein and it’s pretty damn great. Seriously, if you’ve never seen Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971) I highly recommend a viewing. Well, I recommend it for a certain kind of viewer, cause it’s bad. Like bad, bad. But it’s also awesome cause Dracula has a laser ring and he basically dismembers Frankenstein, and that credit sequence! Oh boy. It’s a winner for sure.

But then, not to be outdone (or at least not to be left out maybe) good ole Jess Franco joined the party and offered up Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein in 1972. Now this one kinda flips the script and sees Dr. Frankenstein using Dracula to further his plan for world domination. It’s got something to do with creating an Army of Shadows using Dracula blood or some shit. It doesn’t really make any sense, but it is kinda fun to watch. Frankenstein rolls around in a weird ass Van-Hearse, there’s a tiny bat with a giant stake through its heart, and then The Wolfman shows up for some reason and just fucks shit up. Its pretty cool. Unfortunately it isn’t helping us pin down this idea of platonic love between these 2 monsters.

But hold on, what if we step away from the movies for a moment and talk about some television? It may have been quiet at the movies in the 1960’s, but the television featured lots of the monsters interacting in a friendly capacity.

First up is probably no surprise, but 1964 gave us The Munsters, turning the family sitcom formula of the late 50’s on its head by inserting Monsters into the mix as an average suburban unit. Now, it’s not exactly what we’re talking about, but it’s certainly on the right track.

A closer approximation is not a TV show, (though certainly worthy of note at this point in the timeline) but Rankin and Bass’ 1967 feature Mad Monster Party. The stop motion animation from the team that gave us Rudolph and The Year Without Santa Claus delivered a full on Monster Party of friendly fiends.

After that, we got the Groovie Goolies from 1970, which was purposely fashioned as an animated Laugh-In for monster kids growing up with Aurora kits and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Dracula, a Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolfman all hang out in Horrible Hall, making jokes and performing monster songs. It’s pretty goddamn great and I’m sure you’d assume we’re fans over here at The Shindig – and we are.

Similarly, in 1976 we got the live action Monster Squad TV show, featuring wax versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man coming to life to fight crime. If that sounds awesome to you, that’s because it is and you should watch it.

Then the early 80’s followed suit, bringing such things like Scooby Doo’s A Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle and Hanna-Barbera’s Drak Pack, which almost plays like an animated version of The Monster Squad show, with the trio fighting crime in an attempt to redeem themselves for their former evil deeds. Weird.

Now, that’s a lot of examples of them being friends, but where did television suddenly get this idea?

While it certainly seems like we can point a finger squarely at The Munsters, I think the lion’s share of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of…and maybe you’ve already guessed it… but Monster Songs! Do we even get a prime time sitcom like The Munster’s if not for the popularity of The Monster Mash? I doubt it. But The Monster Mash doesn’t just spring up outta nowhere, and as avid visitors here can attest, it’s not even close to being the first Monster Party Anthem that suggests monsters might hang out.

So, somewhere between Universal’s Monster Rally pictures of the late 40’s and the 70’s homage-oddities from around the globe, we have a very interesting phenomenon, and it’s the Shock! Theater revival of the late 50’s.

In October of 1957, Universal bundled much of its back catalog into a syndicated packaged known as Shock! Theater. Suddenly, TV stations all across the country were playing classic horror movies while meteorologists dressed up like Draculas and Monster Mania took a nation by storm.

And wouldn’t you know it, 1958 seems to be the precise moment that we start seeing bona fide Monster Songs. And not just run of the mill monster songs about a Dracula or a Wolfman, but full-on, Monster Rally-style gatherings of monstrous proportions.

There’s A Screaming Ball (At Dracula Hall) from The DuPonts, Bert Convy’s The Monsters Hop, Big Bee Kornegay gives us At the House Frankenstein, and well, well, well…look at what we have here, also from 1958. It’s tonight song, Frankenstein by Bart Lewis, the song which posits that these 2 dudes might be friends.

So where did everyone get this idea, we ask? Well, hell…it might have just come from this very song itself. How about that?

The Mummy

TRACK #391:

The Mummy by The Naturals

Tonight, for our first track of the season and the first track of our Monster Rally, we’re gonna dig up our old pal, The Mummy.

Now, there aren’t a whole lotta songs about The Mummy.

I mean, there’s plenty, don’t get me wrong. In fact, there’s probably more than anyone ever really needed about this character, to be honest. But when compared to Dracula, or Frankenstein or even The Wolfman really, the repertoire starts looking a little thin.

However, between 1958 and 1959, we got at least 3 different songs about our bandaged buddy. And for some reason the Mummy character in each one of these songs is saying some dumb phrase over and over again.

First, we got Lee Ross’ 1958 trend setter The Mummy’s Bracelet. That one finds the Mummy repeatedly demanding the return of that selfsame bracelet; “Give me my bracelet back!” he pleads through the finest tape-based effects 1958 had to offer.

Jump to 1959, and we got Bob McFadden and Dor’s classic (and classically annoying) The Mummy, in which a poindexter-ass Mummy dweebishly repeats “I’m a Mummy” and it’s enough to make you want to punch your radio. If you’ve ever been curious just why this particular Halloween compilation staple has been ignored over here for 13 years, now you have an answer. I think it’s dumb and listening to it makes me mad, so you don’t have to hear it here. It is a classic, and I should probably at least acknowledge it. Maybe one day it’ll find its way onto the playlist, but not while there’s The Naturals to contend with.

Which brings us to tonight’s selection , a song also called The Mummy and also from 1959. This one is way less irritating and thus appears on the playlist. A group called The Naturals serve up this also-ran number which too features a Mummy catch phrase. “Put Me Back In My Tomb” is the mantra here, which is way better than the other two options. In fact, subjectivity aside, I’d say this is the best of the 3 tunes. Lee Ross’ song is a bit more moody and perhaps more fitting for the playlist, but I think I like this one better.

It’s funnier than Bob McFadden by a furlong and it’s far less irritating. Plus it grooves, something I definitely can’t say about Bob McFadden’s and would rather not say about Lee Ross’ take.

But enough about all of that, let’s get this Monster Rally, and indeed this entire season, off to an ancient start, with one of the oldest Monster Songs about one of the oldest monsters.

Here’s The Naturals with The Mummy!

Doin’ It in a Haunted House

TRACK #372:

Doin’ It In A Haunted House by Yvonne Gage

Sometimes you just wish you knew a song existed sooner.

This would have paired perfectly with the 2022 addition, Stay the Night, which sounded suspiciously similar to Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name.

But even earlier than that, this song would have fit in nicely with all the other Haunted House hits in 2017.

Or perhaps, if I had know about this tune even earlier, I could have thrown it where it probably belongs, directly after Thriller, because damnit if this isn’t the most shameless Thriller knock-off I’ve ever heard.

Ok, maybe Golimar, but that thing was tucked away inside some obscure Telugu musical that no one saw for 25 years. Additionally, it doesn’t sound anywhere near as similar to Thriller as Doin’ It In a Haunted House does, which released to the American pop charts within a year of Thriller’s debut.

So shameless is this tune, in fact, that it sample’s directly from John Landis’ Thriller video in the opening minutes of the song. That’s either some kinda balls, or just plain wearing it on your sleeve. Cause if they didn’t think people would go “Hey! That sounds just like Thriller!” then someone is outta their goddamn mind.

And apparently they did, with Yvonne Gage herself stating (at least in retrospect) that she expressed concerns over its similarity to Thriller. These concerns were brushed away by the production team and they moved forward with the tune.

And boy am I glad they did, because Yvonne Cage’s Doin’ It In a Haunted House is a glorious thing. Not only is a fairly groovin’ tune, because well, it’s basically Thriller, but it’s called fuckin’ Doin’ It in a Haunted House. That’s just fantastic. And it’s not played for laughs either, at least as far as I can tell. This doesn’t strike me a jokey tune. This is just a straight faced Thriller knock-off with a ridiculous goddamn title and it’s beautiful.

It’s not terribly often that a song just gets an instant spot on the Plyalist based on its title alone. Most of them, I need to at least hear first. But this one? I was basically of the opinion that if it was even remotely listenable, it was goin on there, no question.

Then, I fire it up and it’s some ridiculous Thriller knock-off on top of that? Where has this song been all my life?! There’s still gems to be uncovered, even after years into this juggernaut.

But let’s talk about this song, shall we?

Let’s start with Yvonne, who began singing (as many girls do) at her local church from a very young age. Soon, she joined a band called the Soulettes and they even released an album under the band name Love, but Yvonne had already moved on by then, singing back up for a guy named Captain Sky. From there she met producer Don Burnside.

In addition to introducing her to Ministry (of all bands, with whom she recorded in their ) Don also produced her first 2 albums.

Originally, Doin’ It in a Haunted House was envisioned as a “response” record in the vein of Lydia Murdocks Superstar. If you’ve never heard that tune, I recommend giving it a listen, as it’s pretty wild if you’ve never come across it before.

Sung from the perspective of Billie Jean, Lydia posits Michael Jackson’s No. 1 tales omits some pretty big details and she means to set the record straight.

That record also sounds suspiciously like Billie Jean, aping the bassline and basic rhythm.

That sort of thing isn’t unheard of either, though not typically so overt. In fact, Response Songs (or Answers Songs) are as old as recorded music itself. Take a look at that list to see just how many songs are in fact (a good many of which I was totally unaware were) response songs.

What you might notice missing from that list, however, is Yvonne Gage’s Doin’ It in a Haunted House.

And probably not unjustly.

Despite being sold as the “Female Answer to Thriller,” the lyrics do little to suggest this is anything other than a similiar-ish concept wrapped up in a package sounding entirely too much like Thriller.

At least Rod Temperton thought so, anyway. See, he was the co-writer of Thriller and he proceeded to sue Gage for copyright infringement. Nothing really came from the suit, with Yvonne herself stating that Rod didn’t so much want money as he wanted to simply kill her record. Which, in effect, it kind of did, with deals and appearances evaporating from Yvonne upon the lawsuits release.

Mission accomplished pal, cause I haven’t heard of this thing in 40 years of its existence and I’m looking for shit like this. I guess I’m just not looking hard enough. Or maybe just not in the right places.

But like we always say, these kinds of things can’t hide from The Shindig forever, even if they should have been on there since day 1.

If you’ve never heard this one before, enjoy! If you’ve long been a fan, what the fuck? Drop The Shindig a line, will ya? This is too good an addition for ya’ll to have been sittin’ on.

Haunted House Rock

TRACK #371:

Haunted House Rock by
Cool Rock T and Daggy D

Our next tune is another Monster Rap from the absolutely Monster Rap-dominated year of 1987. In addition to the 9 (yes 9!) Freddy Krueger raps released in 1987, you’ve got the 2 songs we just posted, plus Gregory D’s Monster Booogie and Monster Rap Title Track juggernaut The Monster Squad.

That means tonights tune brings our grand total to 14 Monster Raps on the playlist that were released in 1987 alone. There’s also yet another one waiting in the Bullpen (feel free to click here if you find you’re too impatient for all that) making the true total 15!

And those are the ones that I’m aware of. There could be even more out there and I just haven’t hit the right search yet. So who knows.

Tonight’s ’87er comes from Cool Rock T and Daggy D, and it might sound a bit reminiscent of another…more famous…monster rap that you’re already familiar with, which is funny because the b-side to this single was called…Reminiscing.

This is another tune one that was sort of “lost” to the ages as the rip on YouTube right now is not the full song, and there didn’t seem to be any records floating around for sale. However, that was the case until a few months ago, when Monster Rap hero CCSchwiegert, listed this single on discogs.

Now, they listed it for $300 buck mind you, but to my amazement, they also posted a link to an audio sample of the record for potential buyers. And that sample? Yep, it was the entire fucking song. So, thank you CCSchweigert, you are an absolute legend. Sorry I didn’t kick you down the $300 bills, but owning a rare physical record simply because it is rare isn’t necessarily important to me, particularly at that price. See Track #370.

Now, you may be wondering why you’ve never heard of Cool Rock T (better known as Robert Tingle) and Daggy D (also known as Deron Wilson) and it’s probably because they don’t appear to have any other credits to their names unfortunately. This seems to be it from the duo.

As derivative as it may be, I love this tune. I love this beat. I love the lyrics. I love the way they make fake cars sounds during the intro. It’s just awesome. I mean it’s 100% aping Whodini, but in the best possible way.

Besides, I’m pretty sure I vote for Haunted House of Rock as my favorite Monster Rap of all time, and at present, it appears to be the originator. So what better tune to ape?

Here it is. It’s not a Haunted House made of, or where to find Rock, but rather the kind of Rock that is for, or of, a Haunted House. Ya know, Haunted House Rock.

The Bride of Frankenstein Rap

TRACK #369:

The Bride of Frankenstein Rap by L7

Our next Shindigger here is from the band L7. No Rach, not that L7.

But wait, you say you’re not this “Rach,” and you’ve never heard of any band named L7? Oh, that’ll make this a bit easier then.

See, there was (evidentially anyway) an American Funk band by the name of L7. I call them Funk because this song is listed as being Funk and since it’s their only release, I guess that makes them a Funk band. I genuinely don’t know enough about the in’s and out’s of Funk to say whether or not this claim holds any water, but they might as well be Funk. Sounds Funky, anyway. They’re definitely not a Country band. And I wouldn’t call it this Metal. It’s certainly something. Funk is something. So, let’s go with them on Funk then.

Now, this precursory Funk iteration of L7 it’s is best known for…well…this release. In fact, they’re only known for this release, cause it’s, ya know, their only release. And it’s a Funk release, and Frankenstein, which is always a plus around here.

The 12” Maxi-Single, The Bride of Frankenstein, contains 4 tracks, but essentially only 2 songs. There’s Mr. Boogie Bop, which gets the standard and instrumental treatment, and the title tune, The Bride of Frankenstein. That one gets the standard treatment as well, but also an extra-special “Rap” version. And I say extra-special because this single is from 1983, the very year I believe to be the birth of Monster Rap itself.

That year gave us Whodini’s Haunted House of Rock, Edgar Winter’s futuristic Frankenstein 1984 and now, The Bride of Frankenstein Rap. I’d say only one of these tunes is legitimately Rap, however. Can you guess which one?

Yep, it’s the only one not actually claiming to be Rap. Go figure there.

But while this song may not pass a street test, for us ‘Diggers lookin for Halloween tunes, you can’t ask for much better than this. It’s solid gold.

Dudes strapping some reasonable whack-simile of Rap onto an otherwise bizarre “Funk” tune and just running with it? Oh you know we’re all over this.

Apparently a guy in the graveyard (why he’s in this graveyard is anyone’s guess) meets a dancing corpse that claims to be The Bride of Frankenstein. At least she shows him a gravestone to that effect. Now, why The Bride of Frankenstein would have “Bride of Frankenstein” carved into her tombstone is also anyone’s guess, but here we are.

Then, all of sudden it’s Halloween and the Rap shows up. Nice! Now the guy is looking for the Bride of Frankenstein and he winds up at the Monster Club. Which isn’t a bad place to look for her really, so I get it. Does the actual song shed any light on these events?

No, not really.

I’ll say this, they are 2 separate songs. They’re pretty much the same song musically, but the lyrics are all different. This isn’t just L7’s The Bride of Frankenstein single with a Rap verse tacked on, and I can appreciate that.

In the original tune (which was perhaps a more fitting tune for the playlist, but oh well) our narrator is at a monster party where he meets a girl that he takes a liking to. However, he is warned, as he learns that she is the Bride of Frankenstein. Bummer for him I guess.

So, it’s kinda more dance-able, makes a bit more sense (albeit a very small bit) and is generally just a more regular tune. It definitely has less weird “mommmy mommy mommy” sounds, whatever the hell those are suppose to be, and that counts for something.

But that version of the song has no Rap (or whatever this is that is calling itself Rap) and it definitely doesn’t have any Halloween. So, when it comes to the playlist, we’re goin The Bride of Frankenstein Rap all day long on this one.

She can rock your mind.

Igor At Midnight

TRACK #368

Igor at Midnight by Cagé (Drac. E. “D”)

Our next Frankenstein adjacent track is the best kind of track; an 80’s Monster Rap.

This is a pretty rare tune it seems, and I had to ante up to catch this one. It wasn’t terribly expensive, but did take some waiting. Why this song isn’t in heavier rotation or found in more places online is beyond me.

So, we posted it up onto our YouTube channel DigTV a couple years back, as we wanted to get a clean copy out into the world asap.

But those things are fragile. Anything can get taken off YouTube at a moment’s notice and Lord knows I’m just waiting for Shindig Radio to get slapped with a cease and desist. So, we’re finally committing this one to the playlist, where it can hopefully have a second and long digital life, cause awesome vintage Monster Rap like Igor At Midnight, needs preserving.

This super referential and festive Electro Rap drops the names of everyone you’d expect, makes a reference to Halloween, and even includes a shout out to Thriller, a clear inspiration here for Cagé. I dunno bout that Darth Vader reference though, that one’s a little weird and random, but we’ll take it.

Once again, a huge shout out goes Werner Von Wallenrod and his Humble Little Hip Hop Vids for hipping me to this tune and sending me on the hunt.

From 1987, here’s the only release from Cagé (Drac. E. “D”), the extra halloweeny Igor At Midnight.

Igor’s Party

TRACK #367:

Igor’s Party by Tony and The Monstrosities

Hey, you know Igor, right?

Sure you do. Who can’t conjure up a mental picture of some hunchbacked lab assistant of a generalized nature?

But what is that picture exactly? And from where are we all drawing that imagery?

Igor is a strange character. The popularly held conception of him isn’t fixed to any one particular version, nor even a character named Igor.

Whaddaya mean? He’s Victor Frankenstein’s assistant, right?

Well, even that’s a little tricky in and of itself, because Victor isn’t even Victor in Universal’s 1931 classic. He’s Henry. Even then, Victor has no lab assistant in the original novel.

And to complicate the matter, the Igor in the 1931 film isn’t an Igor at all, he’s a Fritz.

Igor, or rather Ygor, didn’t appear until 1939’s Son of Frankenstein, as played by Bela Lugosi.

But that Ygor was a bit of a renegade and hellbent on revenge. See, he was grave robbing, and the villagers caught him, so they tried to hang him. Only they fucked up and left him with a busted up neck and back.

He eventually gets involved with Frankenstein, but only because the particular monster that that particular Frankenstein brings to life only responds to Ygor’s commands. So, Ygor decideds to use the monster to get revenge on the villagers that hanged him. Nice.

Universal then tossed a hunchback assistant in House of Frankenstein, but his name was fucking Daniel, of all things. Later, Charles Bronson played an Igor to Vincent Price’s mad wax man in the ‘53 iteration of House of Wax.

And so went Igor’s trajectory, characters vaguely resembling Fritz playing assistants to whomever the movie happened to be about and sometimes no not even a Mad Scientist.

Time was, I think generally people thought of Marty Feldman’s Igor from Young Frankenstein. And just as well, as not only was he a wildly original and memorable take on the character, but he is literally the first Igor in film history to be a hunchbacked assistant to a Dr. Frankenstein. Wild right? But we’re old as shit and that was 50 goddamn years ago now, so the popular image might just as well be something akin to Dreamworks’ Igor, or (god forbid) Daniel Radcliffe.

But whatever that image is and whatever its sources, Igor is as classic horror staple, as iconic now as the Universal Monster’s themselves. So, we’re gonna take a brief moment here on The Shindig to finally honor that icon with a double shot of Igor goodness.

First up, is Igor’s Party from 1960, the lone record from Tony and The Monstrosities.

The Tony here appears to be Tony Wilde, who released a pair of very different singles that same year. One was Funny Bone and the other was a patriotic split featuring John Henry and There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere. Ok. Guy was diverse, what can we say?

Igor’s Party, as you might imagine, details a very swinging Monster Shindig happening over at The Frankenstein place. Our narrator got the invite from his buddy Igor. Dracula’s dancing, a mummy shows up. Hell, the Purple People eater is there biting shit. They even have dinner. It’s a classy occasion.

And yet again dear Weeners, not even one song later, we are presented with an example of this sort of thing 2 full years before Boris Picket ever did his graveyard smash. What is it about Pickett’s song that captured the masses? It was the only real hit, and thus why it has endured and is remembered. But I mean, in its day. There had already been a number of other (and perhaps better) monster party tunes before it that failed to chart. Was Boris’ just catchier? Was it funnier? Who can say? Right place at the right time, I suppose.

Whatever the reason, let’s give some airtime to Tony Wilde and his Monstrosities and dig ourselves a Rock ‘N Roll Band over at Igor’s Party.

Oh, and we got back to back Mysterioso abusers here folks. Chalk it it!

At the House of Frankenstein

TRACK #366:

At The House of Frankenstein by Big Bee Kornegay

Since we’re talking about Frankenstein, I figured this might be a good time to slot in a song that’s been waiting to get on the playlist for years now.

It’s an old Halloween classic you might recognize straight away called At the House of Frankenstein!

Coincidentally, this swinging booger from Big Bee Kornegay, was released along with Burt Convey’s Monster Hop in 1958, a full 4 years before The Monster Mash, proving once again that one needn’t be the first to do something to be everyone’s immediate association.

There ain’t a whole lot of info on Big Bee, or rather Big Bob, Kornegay (or even rather Bob Cornegie) other than some attributions to vocal groups like The Du Droppers, The Dixieaires and The Ravens.

Whoever this Mystery Man of R&B really was, he knocks it outta the park here with At The House of Frankenstein, a monster party blueprint from as far back as they come.

What’s more? It’s our first Mysterioso Pizzicato offender of 2024, and doubtful to be our last.

Frankenstein (Chuck Osbourne)

TRACK #364:

Frankenstein by Chuck Osbourne

Whether talking about the man himself or his godforsaken creation, lots of folks have sung about Frankenstein. I still think not as many as Dracula, but it’s a pretty hefty list either way.

However, I don’t think anyone has sung about him as enthusiastically as Chuck Osbourne does here, on his 1975 single, Frankenstein.

Like the bastard son of Louie Armstrong and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Chuck practically throws my voice out screaming the praises of the creature for doing a bunch of shit I’m not even sure he ever did. Hard to know really, cause I can’t rightly understand most of whatever the hell Chuck’s even saying in this song. But man, is it awesome.

I might even go so far as to call this the coolest song I’ve ever heard about Frankenstein, Doctor or otherwise. I’m not sure why it took me so long to find this one, but I’m sure glad I did, and I hope that you are too.

Seems there’s a little confusion over Chuck’s name, though. See, he released this song twice on a Pennsylvania label called Hittsburgh USA, which I gotta say, is a pretty outstanding name for a label from the Monongahela Valley.

Can’t tell which record was first though, as they both got released in ‘75. One of them was the B-Side of Day Dream Drifter. That one is credited to Chuck Osborne. And that guy had a couple of other singles.

The other one is a A-Sider with an instrumental version of the tune on the B-side. Now, that one is credited to a guy named Chuck Osbourne, with a U. That’s weird. Chucky U doesn’t have any other singles, just this one.

Was this just a typo? What gives? Guy hiding from the Feds? What’s the deal here?

I imagine if my name was spelt wrong on my own goddamn single, the only single Hittsburgh USA had to their name mind you, I’d be pretty pissed off. Maybe that’s why he spends the whole song just screaming.

And it’s not like they didn’t know how to spell it. One of these pressings got it right. Useless, of course, that’s not even his name at all, and it’s some kinda cover. Maybe he is hiding from the Feds. Guy sounds a little unhinged here about Frankenstein, it’s not outta the realm of possibility to think he’s done some wild shit. I better stop asking so many questions.

I’d say I’m gonna go with Osborne, cause that guy had more releases, but I don’t think so. That no U business is some B-Side bullshit.

I’m goin Osbourne, cause that’s the guy who released the full-on Frankenstein single, with the instrumental on the flip. Frankenstein by Chuck Osbourne is an goddamn A-sider, fuckin’ Hittsburgh USA. Put some respect on that name, however you spell it. Cause if this song is any indication, Chuck deserves it.

Frankenstein (The Doctor)

TRACK #363:

Frankenstein by The Doctor

So here’s another (allegedly) Italo tune about Frankenstein. This one is really from Italy as well, which is nice. It also appears to definitely be about the Doctor, which is also nice.

It’s also by The Doctor, which is a little confusing. It also seems to be The Doctor’s only musical contribution to the world.

Here he is rockin a sweet Frankenstein mask, which is more than I can say for the intense and sweaty Phoebus. But maybe Phoebus had just taken his Frankenstein mask off. Latex is notorious for inducing a good sweat.

What’s also peculiar about this song, is that it too is from 1986. So, that year saw 2 separate Frankenstein related Italo-Disco tracks that were actually from Italy, by acts that never released ny other records? That’s weird. I mean, at least i think so. Is that weird? Seems weird to me anyway. What was going on in Italy in 1986 with Frankenstein that produced such similar efforts? Beats me, cause these songs don’t even really sound similar.

I do like this one though. More than the Phoebus tune anyway. It’s strange. What’s also strange is that The Doctor here is sporting that mask while the song appears to be about Doctor Frankenstein for a change. Meanwhile Phoebus, clearly singing about how The Monster gives him a boner or whatever, appears mask-less, all intense and sweaty. Hmm. Perhaps that’s more apropos than I initially gave it credit for.

But I digress. This song is fun and certainly very danceable, but I’ll be honest here, I don’t really know what The Doctor is saying. But, unlike the Ecstasy song, I’m not sure I really care. Something about Chris Dobarts accent and the variety of words in Hey Frankenstein made me genuinely curious as to the lyrical content.

But here, I dunno. I guess I’m just not as interested. Either way, this could be the night!

Frankenstein (Phoebus)

TRACK #362:

Frankenstein by Phoebus

We’re gonna segue out of Disco here with 2 different Frankenstein tunes from the same year out of the Italo-Disco scene.

We’ve got a few Italo-Disco tracks already on The Shindig, namely Disco Halloween from Forbidden Fruits. But what the hell is Italo-Disco? It doesn’t seem much like Disco, nor does it sound terribly Italian.

It’s been years now since we posted that song, and you don’t feel like clicking away to reread stuff you maybe never even read back then, so why don’t we just talk about it again, huh?

Well, it seems the question of “what is Italo-Disco” elicits a fairly complicated answer. Enthusiasts and historians can’t seem to agree on what exactly is, where and when it all started or what even really qualifies as, Italo-Disco.

As such, the sound of Italo-Disco can be a bit elusive. Some of it skews more Disco and Space Disco, while a bunch of it leans more toward dancey 80’s Pop.

The short versions seems to be that it’s what happened when inexperienced Italian producers in the late 70’s tried to imitate the Disco hits that were no longer flooding in from outside Italy in the wake of Disco’s stateside decline.

That said, it was also the eventual electronification of Disco and the precursor to just about every form of EDM that now exists. Wow, ok Italo-Disco, shit. Take it down a notch, huh. That’s a pretty bold statement.

These 2 things seem to be most important to a definition though: heavy use of electronic instrumentation (synths, drum machines and vocoders) and either overly melodramatic themes of love and sex, or robots. There’s lots of robots.

Most of it was sung in English, perhaps explaining why a lot of it doesn’t sound terribly Italian. Dunno if that was an attempt to mimic classic disco tracks or simply to appeal to an American audience.

Oddly enough, it’s was a German Record label ZYX, that is largely cited as being the originators of the term. They marketed full-on mixes of the emerging pop scene out of Italy as “Italo-Disco.” Soon, that sound was coming from all corners of the globe and getting slapped with the same moniker.

Meanwhile, over here in the States, guys like Patrick Crowley and Bobby Orlando were touching upon some similar sounds with Hi-NRG. That also featured heavy use of electronic instruments, but typically ran at a higher tempo than Italo, so is somewhat easy to pick out of a lineup. It was popular in the Gay club scene of the mid-80’s and was very much a precursor to Techno and House. We even have a Hi-NRG hit here on the playlist courtesy of Bobby Orlando’s own Whisper to a Scream, which appeared (perhaps less than coincidentally) in 1985’s Freddy’s Revenge.

So, as you might suspect, I’ve been listening to a lot of Italo-Disco over the last year or so, and given its overall variety, I find it to be a wildly mixed bag. Some of it I love, some of it I hate.

The beat and the bass are typically right on the money. The first couple minutes of any Italo song is usually pretty great. But by the time the singer joined the party, it seemed like a 70/30 split on whether I was bailing out. A lot of it just sounds like cheeseball dance music of a variety I’m not terribly fond.

Now, I love Giorgio Moroder, and his pop-driven 80’s work is great. Kano released some good tunes. Koto, Scotch and Casco too. But the genre seems less defined by particular artists then it does the one-off records dropped by total randos never to be heard from again. Those can definitely be hit or miss.

I seemed to prefer the older, earlier variety which leaned a little more into Space Disco territory, a genre that I love which has a lot of overlap with Italo.

But the point at where a thing stops being Italo and starts being any number of other genres that sprung up in its wake, is located somewhere just outside my range of hearing.

Consensus seems to be that the genre had mostly dried out by the early 90’s and had given way to House, or Eurobeat or Eurodisco.

Tonight’s selection, Frankenstein by Phoebus, is a great example of what I’m talking about. This song doesn’t bear the hallmarks of what I think of when I think of Italo-Disco. To me, this just sounds like generic 80’s dance music, which isn’t not what Italo is, but it’s hard to explain. I dunno, maybe I’m not even really sure what Italo is, but I don’t know if it’s this. However, according to the folks on Discogs anyway, it definitely is.

Despite that, I still kinda dig this tune. Perhaps it’s a testament to the fact that just singing about Frankenstein can afford you a fair bit of goodwill over here with The Shindig.

This one seems to be about the Monster. And specifically the monster from the movie, as Phoebus has just recently seen a Frankenstein picture at the cinema.

From what I can gather, the monster has left an impression on our dear narrator. The nature of which, however, I can’t exactly say. Is this guy sexually attracted to the creature? Is that what’s goin on here? Am I adding that in? Am I sexually attracted to the creature? What’s the deal? Cause Phoebus seems to be getting real worked up over this thing, and I’m not sure it’s of the “Hey, just pick up a copy of Famous Monsters and an Aurora Model kit and work it out” variety.

So much so, in fact, that his friends all say he needs a doctor, his dad has kicked him out of the house and his girlfriend won’t even talk to him.

As such we dropped in some clips from Andy Warhol and Paul Morrisey’s Flesh For Frankenstein, cause…c’mon.

But enough of my rambling about a genre you probably don’t care to know about for some Monster song that I’m not even sure is prime example of that genre, in theme or sound.

He’s talkin’ about Frankenstein, so lose your mind already.

P.S. – If anyone listening happens to be familiar with this song but is finding they not familiar with this particular version, that is because it is a Shindig specific edit exclusive to the playlist.

It is a mashup I made of the 7” Mix and the Horror Mix. Not sure why I did this exactly, as I did it quite a while back. I think I liked the Horror Mix better in general, but preferred the opening of the 7” Mix. I think anyway. There’s something going on at the end too that’s different. Either way, we hope you enjoy!

Hey Frankenstein

TRACK #361:

Hey Frankenstein by Ecstasy

So, what’s all the fuss about Dracula, anyway?

Guy’s kinda boring, ain’t he? Drink a little blood, flash a little cape, hiss a bit with some fangs maybe, whatever. Big deal. Why’s this dude getting so much love in the tracks?

What about ole Frankenstein?

Well, while seemingly not as referenced as The Count, Frankenstein is still no slouch when it comes to recordings. In fact, according to a title search of “Frankenstein” on Discogs, there’s 785 master recordings. That’s almost 120 more than Dracula! Maybe old nut-neck ain’t 2nd banana after all. Maybe he is the big dog at the party. Though in fairness, a ton of those releases are just various compilation appearances and covers of the Edgar Winter classic. Without meticulously scrubbing either search for duplicates of that nature, it would hard to say for sure who emerges as the clear winner.

That’s of no real concern to us though, cause we’re gonna show Frank a little love now anyway, cause Lord knows he’s been getting the high-hat. Plus, I got a bunch of Franken-Jams clogging up the bullpen. Not as many as Dracula, but still quite a few.

I think it’s worth noting that in 9 out of 10 songs it’s the monster that’s being referenced rather than the Doctor. Sometimes that can be hard to determine with some of these songs, but it’s a safe bet it’s usually the creature.

And we can look the other way on that one, right gang? We can just accept that most people are calling the creature “Frankenstein,” accurate or not. I’m prepared to let it go for a block of Franken-Rock, aren’t you?

Yeah, of course you are, cause you don’t give a damn. Does the track groove? Yeah? Well then fire it up.

And groove this one does, cause we’re flippin’ the switch on this block with another song I had to fish outta the drink just to hear. And once again, it was definitely worth it. Some people had the A-side from the Ecstasy single What’d I Say? but no one seemed to have the B-side, Hey Frankenstein.

Ecstasy was a French disco band in the late 70’s that cut a number of 45s, but seemed to fizzle out just before the turn of the decade.

Chris Dobat, otherwise known as Mister Ecstasy, was the driving force behind that band and he seems to have pivoted to solo Funk work in the 80’s. Not bad.

Here, he lets it all hang out with some funky disco dedicated to Doctor himself. At least, I think anyway. Cause I’m not gonna lie, half the time I can’t tell what the hell Chris is actually saying. The fact that this is the B-side to What’d I Say? seems entirely appropriate.

However, I didn’t wanna leave y’all hanging. So, I decided to listen to this song on repeat, for an ungodly amount of times, until I figured out what the lyrics are.

Here is my best attempt. If anyone would like to assist me or correct any of these lines, I’ll take all the help I can get. We posted the song to YouTube last year, and you can use their playback speed to help with the translation. Though I warn you, it’s only so helpful.

Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)

Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s doctor
When his medicine
Oh, he’s Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He wore his dice
And they’ll look nice
He’s no valentine

So full of ice
He wore them twice
He’s no friend of mine
And if your taught
To live to start
Don’t, bad Frankenstein

Hey Frankenstein
Hey Hey, Hey Hey (x2)

He’s moving fast
He’s moving where it’s at
Looking for fun
Anyway, anywhere, anyone

When there’s no more fun
He’s back on the run
Playboy #1
Always looking for fun

On the run

?
He’s got a secret
Dice!
He wore them twice!
Louder
Sexy
Horns
He begs it

Mr. Frankenstein
Comes a-walking in
Mr. Frankenstein
Funky Valentine

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
When it get hot
He’s very bad
He’s bad, Frankenstein

He knows the way
To scare his prey
Oh he’s Frankenstein
He’ll never let you get away
Here comes Frankenstein

Hey Frankenstein
Comes walking in
you know its him
Oh, bad Frankenstein

Hey, Frankenstein
He’s gotta prove
He’s in the groove
Oh, bad Frankenstein

He takes a drink
To make it quick
It’s all feelin fine
He can’t play fair
He doesn’t care
He’s bad Frankenstein (x4)

So, that’s what I got anyway.

Can’t say I’m entirely convinced I got any of this right, and lots of it just sounds wrong. But some it of seems right, and after entirely too many listens, I gotta call it a wrap. But please, if you’re feeling like maybe you also gotta know what this guy is saying and my translation seems like trash, help me out. Lemme know what you think.

Oh, and hey! Speaking of letting it all hang out, that’s a full on fully up there adorning the front of this 45. Cause hey, if you jump into a tub to record your single, maybe a nipple slips out, ya know? It’s ‘78! It’s disco! What’s a nipple? C’mon, get loose, will ya?

Mary Shelley would have wanted to see her nipple.

Love Me Dracula

TRACK #358:

Love Me Dracula by Meco

Ah Meco. You know know Meco, right? He’s the guy you can thank (or blame) for The Star Wars Christmas Album Christmas in the Stars. I’ll be thanking him, thank you very much, but your mileage may vary.

Years before that Imperial entanglement though, he was known as the guy who made John Williams watch as a disco version of his Star Wars Theme hit #1 on the Billboard charts while his own version peaked at #10. He also almost stole John’s Grammy Award to boot, and for the same composition! The balls on this guy.

Well, he did it again, in the same fuckin year, with the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. John got his revenge that time though, with his original theme besting Meco’s disco version in the charts, and winning another Grammy, while Meco didn’t even see a nomination.

But, that didn’t stop Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania’s Domenico Monardo, though. No way. The following year he tried to rebottle boogie lightning yet again with a version of another Williams score. This time it was Superman, but it didn’t fare quite as well as the others, unfortunately.

Additionally, he took a disco stab at The Wizard of Oz, Shogun, Anything Goes, Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek, and even more John Williams with Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back. What can I say? The guy had an M.O.

In between all that disco apery though, Meco somehow found time to release a genuine original album in 1979’s Moondancer. The album’s cover was designed by Meco himself and the back has an introduction written by him as well, and it’s perhaps the best part:

“One night I dreamt that I was at a disco. What was so unusual about the dream was that the disco was on the Moon, and among the regular clientele were many Creatures of the Night.

I asked the intergalactic Council to teleport me there to see if such a place existed.

Sure enough, there it was; just as I imagined it would be! I couldn’t believe it.

Down in a huge gorge, stretching for miles was the disco:

MOONDANCER.

Dancing the endless night away were all the creatures I had dreamed of.

I asked Casablanca Records to allow me to record my impressions of that night.

My orchestra and I invite you to listen and enjoy:

MOONDANCER.”

Outstanding.

Because it’s Meco though, 2 of its 6 tracks are covers. However, because it’s also Meco, the man who never met a fad he didn’t wanna capitalize on, there’s a Disco Dracula number on there too. Fuck yeah there is.

And it’s a good one too. It wasn’t written by Monardo (as most of the album is not, unsurprisingly) but it’s a standup double of a Disco Dracula and (I think) the bright spot on an a fairly bland and generic disco album.

For me, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Rock Me Dracula by Mokka. Is this just another count on Meco’s lengthy larcenous indictment, or did Mokka try to out-Meco Meco?

Or hell, maybe great Disco Dracula minds think alike the whole world over. But, since they both dropped in ‘79, without any concrete dates, we may never know for sure.

What I can say though, is that this is where our Disco Dracula block will come to an end. For now, we will bid The Count farewell, but like all immortal creatures of the night, he will rise again soon enough, to strike fear into our ears once more.

Until then, Love Me Dracula!

Ooh Dracula

TRACK #357:

Ooh Dracula by Empire

So here’s a weird Disco Dracula with a confusing release history.

I originally came across this song as simply Dracula, sung by Linda Susan Bauer. I loved it and shoved it in the bullpen, as is custom.

Later, while digging around for other monster disco madness, I ran across the suggestion of the song Ooh Dracula, as performed by Hysteric. I listened to that, but it wasn’t really much of anything except a remix, yet it sounded a little different from Linda’s song.

What was it a remix of then?

Well, apparently the song Ooh Dracula by the German Disco group Empire.

So, I double checked around on Linda Susan Bauer and found out she was one of the singers for Empire, and that her version was itself a reworking of that version. Ok then.

Problem is, the band Empire isn’t really a band at all. They’re basically just this other band called Methusalem. Wait, what?

Ok, so bear with me with on this, cause the information is a little spotty. From what I can garner, Methusalem was a project of a producer named Jack White. Not that guy with the white pants, but this guy.

See, he was German. He also used to be a professional soccer player. But more importantly, he produced David Hasselhoff’s albums, including his Berlin Wall-leveling hit, Looking for Freedom.

More famously (I would assume), he was the man responsible for producing Laura Branigan, including her very actual hits Self Control, How Am I Suppose to Live Without You? and her insanely popular version of Umberto Tozzi’s Gloria. In fact, he also produced her hit The Lucky One, which appears in 1986’s Killer Party, is sitting in the bullpen and waiting it’s debut on The Shindig.

I think even more importantly though, Jack White is the man that produced the soundtrack to the 1984 Sci-Fi Musical Pia Zadora vehicle Voyage of the Rock Aliens. Choice.

However, before all of that success, Jack had been releasing disco singles to limited acclaim in the late 70’s. Methusalem’s lone album, Journey Into the Unknown, was released in 1980, also to limited acclaim.

So, Jack just continued producing disco singles, including one with Linda Susan Bauer entitled Shot Down under the moniker Empire.

When that single performed well, Jack figured he’d try and give Methusalm a new set of legs. So in 1981, he took Journey Into the Unknown, added Shot Down and another a new song he’d also produced with Linda entitled Ooh Dracula and released it as Empire’s lone LP, The First Album. Incidentally, that was also their last album as neither Empire nor Methusalem released anything after.

Some later, bootleggy repressings of Journey Into the Unknown feature the additional 2 songs, but from what I can tell, those are mostly erroneous. Even some places online will attribute this song to Methusalem, which is just as well I suppose. But as far as I can tell, nothing official by the Methusalem moniker was ever released containing Ooh Dracula. This appears to be “Empire” song, whatever that really means.

Linda herself released the song as just Dracula in 1982, and that’s the one I was familiar with. It’s not terribly different, from what I can tell. Maybe a little less synthy. Hard to say, really. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was the same track.

So what is Empire then? Well, basically Shot Down and Ooh Dracula, that’s what Empire is, featuring vocals by Linda Susan Bauer.

Methusalem is the rest of that album, with vocals from English singer Vicky Brown.

Now that that’s cleared up, what with this song?

Well, it’s your typical sort of Dracula tale. A woman is obsessed with that god forsaken creature of the night, and despite what everyone (including common goddamn sense) tells her, she’s determined to become a slave to that thing.

Oh well.

Better her than me, I suppose. Seems like it’s hard to resist that guy. Thankfully, we’ve never crossed paths. However, I do feel confident that my years of listening to Dracula songs has given me the tools necessary to fully protect myself from his evil ways.

Oh fuck yooh, Dracula! I dont’ care what you say!

Halloween Shindig

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